Ole Miss men’s golf heads to B1G country to compete in Windon Memorial

The last time we saw our heroes, the squad packed up their curds and went way over to Wisconsin for the first tournament of the year at the Badger Invitational in Madison. The team had a bit of a different make up than was anticipated as the two seniors on the team, Brody Blackmon and Chip (a golfer, named thusly) Getz, were in the lineup with the three rising sophomores Jack Gnam, Jackson Suber, and Sarut Vongchaisit.

Missing from action was team stalwart Cecil Wegener. Our guy Lil Precious is taking a medical redshirt this year to handle some lingering hip issues. Speedy recovery and good thoughts going forward for the Precious one for sure.

With Wegener on the sidelines, the team got out to a bit of a sluggish start overall on day one. Jack Gnam and Sarut Vongchaisit battled back from some early bogeys to post rounds of +2 and -1 respectively. The Seniors struggled on day one as well, with Blackmon and Getz combining to go +13 on the opening round. The saving grace on the first day was Jackson Suber. The Tampa native, fired off an opening round of 69 en route to a share of the individual lead. The team sat at a tie for 6th at +3.

Day two saw a much more even a consistent round from the team in its entirety. Both Seniors bounced back after tough first days to both post -1 (71) scores. Vongchaisit and Gnam remained steady with +1 and +2 rounds of their own. Suber, however, regressed a bit after the day one fireworks, posting a -2 (74) that was marred by a double bogey on the round’s final hole. After the second day, the golf Rebs remained in 6th at +4.

As has been the case with teams past, the Rebs made the final round their moving day. The birdies came in abundance for the entire team. Sarut Vongchaist got things started off with an eagle on the par five second hole and parlayed that start into a -4 (68) on the day. Jack Gnam and Chip Getz kept the team in the hunt with rounds of +1 and Even as well, but it was Jackson Suber that spring-boarded the squad up the leader board. Suber made nine(!) birdies on his round, including six-straight on the back nine, in route to a career-low round of -7 (65).

Those scores lifted the team to a -6 total and a solo third finish, behind Kansas and run away champion Notre Dame. Individually, Suber finished T-4 with a total of -8. Vongchasit was right behind with a top ten finish of his own at -5. Getz completed his week in a tie for 36th at +4. Jack Gnam finished behind that with a +5 and a T-47 placement. Blackmon completed the scoring at +11 and T-70.

Another encouraging bright spot for the team this week was the play of true Freshmen Veeti Mahonen. Veeti, competing in his first collegiate tournament as an individual, book-ended rounds of -2 and E to finish the week at +3 and T-29. A more than respectable finish for the Finnish Freshmen. Finish. Phinish.

This Week’s Tournament: The Windon Memorial, hosted by Northwestern University

When: Sept. 16-17

Where: Lake Forest, Ill.

Golfweek Rankings: Unranked

The Course: Conway Farms Golf Club. The course bills itself as being “designed around the traditions of Scottish links golf” and nothing says links golf like a Tom Fazio design in suburban Chicago. Conway Farms itself has been the host to several notable events like the Western Amateur, the Mid-Amateur Championship, and the BMW Championship on the PGA tour.

The Ole Miss Team:

Chip Getz (Senior, Paradise Valley, Ariz.) The golfer named Chip made his return to the starting lineup with a respectable showing at the Badger Invitational. His week was highlighted by second and third rounds of -1 and Even. Finished T-36.

Brody Blackmon (Senior, Sulpher Springs, Tex.) Blackmon also jumped back into the starting rotation last week with mixed results. Best round of the week was a -1 (71) on day two.

Jackson Suber (Soph., Tampa, Fla.): Was up at the top of the Individual leaderboard most of the week. Capped off the tournament with a career low -7 (65) that got him into a tie for 4th overall. Should be a sign of big things to come for the Sophomore this year.

Jack Gnam (Soph., Ridgeland, Miss.): Pretty average but consistent week for Gnammer. Kept it between the mayonnaise and the mustard all three rounds, posting scores of 74-74-73.

Sarut Vongchaisit (Soph., Bangkok, Thailand): “Root” kept up where he left off at the end of last season with a total score of -4, including a final day round of 68. Finished in the Top 10 for the first time in his short

The Field: Northwestern, Notre Dame, No. 28 Kansas, No. 25 Iowa State, Marquette, No. 26 South Florida, Indiana, Michigan, Purdue, UC Davis

Top individuals who are playing for second: Tripp Kinney – Iowa State, Lachlan Barker – Iowa State, Harry Hillier – Kansas, David Nyfjäll – Northwestern, Hunter Eichhorn – Marquette, Thomas Hutchison – UC Davis

If you want to follow the action: Golfstat and Ole Miss Men’s Golf Twitter are your best bets to follow along with the action.

Next Tournament: October 7-8, Jerry Pate National Intercollegiate, Old Overton Golf Club, Vestavia Hills, Ala. Out of all the players to have a tournament named after him, I did not see Jerry Pate coming in hot as one of them, but here we are.